kapachino

Category: personal

  • Goals Update

    On Saturday I got the urge to spend some serious time being productive and working on, among other things, my 101 goals. Don’t you love it when you get in those moods? Unfortunately I had to work all weekend, and then the weather turned nasty which greatly changed my desires. I ended up spending Saturday night curled on the couch reading and watching basketball with David.

    Since I couldn’t actually be productive, I decided to plan my productivity instead. But first, I wanted to update you on a few of the goals I’ve checked off since the last time we talked about this.

    #25: Back up all of my computer files.


    This is the external hard drive that I bought a ways back. Before I got a chance to use it, my computer crashed. I was able to salvage most of my files, but they ended up saved on the external hard drive all in a jumble and unnamed. I finally found the time to go through those files, save the ones I want to keep, and back up my computer for real. Now what I do is back it up at the end of every month and once I do so I set myself a reminder on my phone to do it again the next month. That way I’ll (hopefully) be able to keep up with it! By the way, this gives me SO much peace of mind, and if you don’t already back up your computer monthly, I highly encourage you to do so.

    #44: See another live musical.

    I think I’ve mentioned it before, but my youngest brother works stage crew at the Alley Theatre downtown, which is one of the most prestigious theatres in Houston. (Sidenote: did you know that Houston has one of the best theatre districts in the country?) Anyway, his job offers some perks, namely that he gets a few free tickets to every show. Since he knows how much I love plays I pretty much get to see every one. Not too long ago the musical Wonderland made its world premiere at the Alley, and I got to be there. I thought it was fun, and the music was poppy and catchy–definitely something I can see myself singing to in the car. My only criticism is that it was 2 1/2 hours long. I’m pretty sure it’ll be edited before it goes to Broadway though!

    #90: Have a custom stamp made.

    My lovely friend Julie, who I really wish had a blog, designed this stamp for me when she saw I wanted one so much. It made me happy in a time of sadness, and now I’m inspired to write many cards just to use it. :)

    #95: Be a regular at a women’s Bible study.

    My church held a women’s study that ended last month, and I was happy to be a regular attender. I couldn’t go every week due to work, but I’m pretty sure I went to the majority of meetings. I love the ladies at my church so much, even if I am the youngest one there by decades!

    #96: Complete a Beth Moore Bible study with homework.

    Beth Moore is a Christian speaker and writer from Houston, and I am blessed that I actually get to see her live frequently. She hosts a couple weekly women’s Bible studies a year, and although I can’t always commit to them I can say that they are always worth it. To complete this goal I bought one of her study books, The Beloved Disciple, and borrowed the CD’s with her messages from a friend.

    Now, these are the goals I’m hoping to complete in the near future…

    #1: Shop at a Farmer’s Market. There is one every Saturday nearby, and I’m going this weekend!

    #12: Buy ankle weights and start wearing them at work twice a week. Going to get them today, start wearing them tomorrow.

    #24: Implement a system for David and I to save our change.

    There are many more that are in progress, but they will take a bit more planning and time to complete. I’ve been at this for almost a year now, and I have 39 goals completed. Just under two years to go…I can do this!

  • happy st. patrick’s day

    From me and Cameron:

    See the cuteness that I’m forced to deal with??

    This week I’m putting my life back together, getting things taken care of, and coming back to myself. I finally scheduled a date to have my wisdom teeth removed, and did a lot of research to find myself a primary care doctor. I’m finishing books and planning my return to the exercising world. I bought my first Groupon for yoga classes and spent some time with good friends. I’m being a fantastic nurse and am contemplating starting the oncology certification process.

    Life goes on, and I’m okay.

  • a weekend like that

    Y’all. I had such a great weekend. I didn’t even realize how much I needed some time off where I wasn’t having my insides ripped out of me, puking my guts out, or recovering from either of the above, but I can tell you now that I needed it. I know because today I am happy, and I didn’t even mind getting up at 4:30 a.m. on Daylight Savings weekend to go to work. It was such a great weekend that I am about to relive it right here – not for YOUR benefit, per se – but for my own.

    After I got let off work early on Friday I unknowingly headed straight into a traffic catastrophe that put my commute home at 2 1/2 hours. I admit that my good mood faded somewhere around an hour into the drive when I had only made it a few miles. But the ease of driving my new car and a good audiobook made it bearable. I arrived awhile later, only slightly frazzled, at my in-laws’ house to meet my husband for dinner, and we enjoyed a meal that I realized was an exact replica of the one I ate immediately before I got sick a week ago. The fact that I did not, in fact, get sick again I took to be a sign of better things to come.

    After sleeping in on Saturday morning, I indulged in something I should be ashamed of, but am not:  Farmville on Facebook. Yes, I play it; I enjoy it because it is a mindless and soothing distraction. And did you know that there are more Farmville players than Twitterers? So I promise not to be annoying about my Farmville habits if you promise to just block it already and not make fun of me. Anyway, on Saturday morning I had some time and I made a lot of changes to my farm and now it’s pretty and yeah I can’t believe I’m actually still talking about this but that’s what happens when I’m in a good mood! I ramble!

    During this time my three dogs, who were quietly sunbathing in the backyard, suddenly went into an uproar. A stray dog had approached the gate, and they were beside themselves. They got so riled up that Cleo and Oliver transferred their fury onto each other and launched into a full-fledged battle, while Eddie stood by and barked. I know a person is not supposed to get in the middle of a dog fight, but my other option was to let them kill each other or at least injure one another to the point of very high vet bills. I hate to brag, but at this point I’m kind of an expert at breaking up dog fights. Unfortunately in my weakened condition I managed to stick my leg in the wrong place and ended up with a rather painful bite to the calf muscle. Don’t worry though! Not only am I okay, but we just kept the dogs apart overnight and they made up the next day.

    Next on the agenda was a couple of extremely satisfying errands such as picking up my Nintendo gear from the FedEx office (more on that later this week) and getting a new EZ tag for my car. The EZ tag lets you breeze through the tollways in Houston, and although I’m not in the habit of using the tollway unless I must, you can understand that I was dying for one on Friday night when I was stuck on the feeder road because I didn’t have any cash for tolls. The best part was that it didn’t cost me anything because I still had money left on my truck’s old EZ tag.

    Afterwards I met my sister-in-law for the much-anticipated pedicure, and I believe this sentiment sums up my feelings perfectly:

    Then David and I made good on a Christmas present we gave to his parents and took them to eat at Friday’s (the bruschetta chicken pasta was excellent) and saw “Shutter Island” which was an extremly well-done movie.

    After a lovely church service on Sunday morning a friend of mine told me she’s pregnant and I didn’t even cry! I allowed myself to feel miserable for just a little while, but then I channeled it and went on a surprising cleaning/productive spree that I hadn’t planned. In fact, I had purposefully devoted this weekend to NOT cleaning in order to simply relax, but it turns out that my idea of relaxing is doing laundry, sweeping and vacuuming the floors, shopping for groceries, washing my truck to get it ready to sell, and wiping down every possible surface in my home. I have to say that I don’t regret it, because a clean home is better than almost anything.

    David and I finished off the day by spending a couple hours doing our taxes, and let me just say that Turbo Tax is worth every penny. We are getting a rather large tax return, which is not only a blessing but a relief because going into it I had no idea what to expect. But it turns out that if you get yourself a mortgage, pay a ton of money in student loan interest, and give a lot to charity you get a bunch of deductions. When you look at it that way it’s not near as much fun, so I’ll just continue to think of this as free money.

    Why can’t it always be the weekend?

  • Friday Things: To Be Happy About

    Goodreads iPhone app!

    Y’all should know by now that I love Goodreads. I’ve been dying for an app for a long time, and it’s finally here. Now I can post updates of my reading progress, browse books, add to my “to read” list, and read reviews from anywhere! More info here.

    Nintendo enthusiast!

    The lovely people at Brand About Town have chosen me to share my love for Nintendo. I’ve got a Wii and a Wii Fit Plus on the way, which will be perfect for helping me ease back into exercising after all these health setbacks. My new triathlon goal date is August, and there will certainly be some 100+ degree days where I won’t want to go outside to run. I’m so excited. (Not to mention, I’m still intent on conquering Mario Galaxy one day….)

    Pedicure tomorrow!

    Although what I really need is entire weekend in the spa, this will have to do. I haven’t splurged on a pedicure in way too long, considering they are one of life’s greatest pleasures–especially when done at my favorite salon & spa.

    More time off!

    Even though I’ve taken a lot of time off work lately, it hasn’t been fun. I was supposed to work late today, but because of a drop in our census I’m not needed and I get to go home and enjoy the weather. I also have this weekend off, and I’m hoping that it will be just the thing to lift my spirits.

    Here’s to happiness. :)

  • fighting the sadness

    The only good thing about getting so sick for a couple of days is that it completely took my mind off anything else that was wrong. For a little while, I wasn’t sad or emotional – every part of me was focused on feeling better. And now that I do, physically (although I’m still barely eating), I can start to feel my crazy hormones take over again. The sadness creeps in subtly and slowly, and today I began to feel its fuzzy tentacles wrapping around my heart. I decided that I didn’t want to just accept that, so I took action.

    First, I made an appointment for a pedicure this weekend. It helps me to have something to look forward to in the immediate future, no matter how small. Next I got myself out of the house and visited my sister-in-law and my nephew because sitting at home alone just makes things worse, no matter how comfortable my bed is. Finally, I stopped at a place that always makes me happy: Target.

    I had a $100 gift card from my birthday and I figured today was the day to use it. A hundred dollars is very easy to spend at Target, especially when it’s not your own money. But here is what I came away with:

    The placemats and napkins are for making my tiny kitchen table look pretty (here’s hoping I will get back to cooking someday soon), the tea kettle is for making coffee with my french press (whenever I can tolerate coffee again), the basket is to hold throw blankets and to match another one we have, and the sandals are for looking cute (although not in that picture – but hopefully they will with a dress and once I’ve had the aforementioned pedicure).

    So far, so good. I haven’t cried once today, which I’m pretty proud of. And I’m about to eat my first real meal in three days: baked potato soup in a bread bowl from Panera. I have one more day off work to relax, and then we’ll see how I handle Thursday. I know it may take awhile, but I want to be happy again, and I’m willing to fight for it.